Record 6m see Pope in Manila

A record six million people poured into Manila’s rain-soaked streets and its biggest park as Pope Francis ended his Asian pilgrimage with an appeal for Filipinos to protect their young from sin and vice so they can instead become missionaries of the faith.

The crowd estimate included people who attended the Pope’s final Mass in Rizal Park and surrounding areas, and lined his motorcade route, said the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Francis Tolentino.

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the Vatican had received the figure officially from local authorities and that it was a record, surpassing the five million who turned out for St John Paul II’s final Mass in the same park in 1995.